The Best Kind
by Muffinypowers
Summary: Relationships are way more fun when you can be completely and totally open with your partner in the stupidest ways, and the people who can do that tend to find each other.


_(A/N: It feels so awesome to finally post something here again! Especially now that my writing has improved. At least, I think so! I've fallen in love with the Free! fandom, so I figured I'd try to write something. It's been a while, but I hope you guys like the fic nonetheless! Also, just to be safe... well, nobody owns the series they write about on here. Insert disclaimer here.)_

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It was around 10:00 at night, but Makoto and Haru still couldn't sleep. However, although they were both trying to, neither particularly cared. In fact, it worked better this way. Haru had been meaning to bring something up, after all, and what better time than when Makoto was lying beside him with nobody else there to interrupt?

"Makoto."

Makoto turned to him, blinking away his own tiredness. "Is something wrong?"

Haru shook his head, forgetting that Makoto couldn't see him in the dark. "I just wanted to ask something."

"Oh. That's fine! Ask whatever you want." Makoto smiled, and though it wasn't visible, Haru could somehow tell. Maybe their closeness had gotten to him.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "Are you gay?"

For anyone else, the lack of hesitation would have been surprising. Since this was Haru, it wasn't. The question itself may have been, but the silence was definitely not.

Makoto was a bit taken aback by the question, but answered anyway. "I think so. I mean-" He paused to get his thoughts together, lightly squeezing Haru's hand as reassurance. It was at this moment that they both realized that they were holding hands. Really, the surprising thing was that it took so long. "I know I'm not straight."

Haru glanced down at their hands before once again making eye contact with Makoto. "So am I. Actually, I'm sure about it."

This newfound fact didn't bother either of them, nor did it trigger some prehistoric-age lustful reaction that wouldn't be out of place in the average hentai manga.

"Oh. Okay." There was nothing else to be said, really. They both knew, and that was enough for them.

The next morning- luckily, it was a weekend, otherwise they would have been terribly tired and lacking in focus during class- Makoto woke up lying close beside Haru as per usual. That's what typically happened overnight, and was also the reason why they avoided sleeping next to each other when the rest of the team was there. It was still relatively early, but Makoto decided to wake Haru up anyway.

"Good morning," he said, turning to face him.

Haru didn't wake up, which didn't surprise Makoto. He was kind of a heavy sleeper. An alarm usually woke him up, but no alarm was present.

"Haru, we have to get up. We might be late for practice." Makoto was a bit louder this time, and Haru woke up. It was likely that something in Haru's mind was triggered at the word "practice", but either way, he was up.

"What time is it?" he almost immediately asked, not even bothering to look at the clock.

"Uh... 10:16. So we have to start walking there in about two and a half hours."

"Then we can sleep a little longer."

"Maybe. But we should get up, anyway." Makoto smiled. "If you want, we can leave earlier so we can stop somewhere on the way to the school."

Haru nodded. "Sure." He didn't bother with questioning where, knowing that Makoto could come up with something.

The two of them both got ready relatively quickly. Nothing too annoying happened, except for Makoto having to tell Haru to get out of the bath before they were actually late. Not like that was anywhere near happening, but it got Haru moving a bit faster.

By the time they were actually ready, it was 12:14, which gave them a bit more than 45 minutes to meet up with the rest of the team as opposed to the usual 15.

"Are you sure we need to go now?" Makoto asked. "We'll be early."

Haru shrugged. "We can stop for coffee or something."

Makoto smiled at him, holding the door open for him to walk out. "Yeah, that sounds good."

He closed and locked the door, and started walking in the general direction of the coffee shop with Haru.

The amount of conversation quickly dwindled down to absolutely none.

"So, about... you know," Makoto began, not wanting to attract any strange looks. "Did you have a reason that you asked that?"

Haru looked down. "I was curious. Not everything has to have a reason."

"I know! I just wanted to know if there was one." He went silent quickly after that.

"...were you hoping there was one?" It was a bit of a bold question and they both knew it, but Haru gave Makoto that look that got him to answer just about anything.

"Well, a little... it would have been nice to know if you, I don't know, wanted a relationship." He turned a slight shade of pink that was hardly noticeable. "Of course, either way is fine!"

"Right. That was my other reason." The sentence was said like it was the most normal thing in the world. How was Haru so confident when it came to this? Maybe it was how close he and Makoto were in the first place, but that wasn't exactly something one normally said in public. Or that casually. Or at all, really, since there were better ways to go about that.

"Oh." The reddish color Makoto's face had turned got slightly darker.

Haru nodded again, and let silence settle in. That is, until Makoto turned to him again.

"I know we were going to get coffee before we went to practice, but I was thinking... maybe we could just go now. Get there early. Nagisa and Rei probably won't be there yet, so we'll have some privacy."

Haru looked back at him. "Maybe that would be nice. And we could get started early-"

"Not without the others," Makoto replied. "We need to practice together, especially because Nagisa wants to work on our exchange."

"Okay. Let's do it anyway." Haru smiled, but not with his lips- it was just possible to see that sort of thing in his eyes. That was one of the ways that he and Makoto seemed to be able to read each others' minds and successfully freak other people out.

"All right." They kept walking towards the school. There was still silence, but it was no longer awkward. Then again, awkwardness was rarely the case with their silences anyway.

They reached the school 19 minutes early, and despite Makoto's initial protests, they both ended up in adjacent lanes within the first five anyway.

When Gou got there ten minutes later, there was a lot of yelling about "You guys are supposed to wait!" and "Why are you already here, anyway?" and a little bit of "I am so done with both of you."

Haru chose to ignore her completely, while Makoto hurriedly tried to explain without explaining too much.

"Whatever. Just get out until everyone else is here."

They did exactly that, because both of them remembered what happened when they got Gou especially mad.

Haru moved so he was sitting right on the pool's edge, with his legs in the water. After all, that wasn't technically banned. Makoto sat down right beside him.

"So, what are you working on today?"

Haru looked down. "I don't care. Maybe stroke productivity."

"What's your count now?"

"20. I might try for 18."

Their conversations hadn't changed a bit. In fact, it was likely that nothing would change at all- that's just the type of people they were in general. Not like there was much that could change, though, since the whole team was pretty affectionate with each other.

"Really? That's a lot for just one practice."

"We'll be here a while. I have time."

The best relationships are just like friendships. The only difference is that it's not socially acceptable to kiss your friend when you're not in a relationship.

(Although, there's still a special place in hell for anyone who kisses with clearly visible tongue in public.)

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 _(A/N: In a year, I'll look back on this and cringe. Everyone does that, right? Yeah. Anyway, feel free to favorite, follow, or review. Especially that last one. I like reviews.)_


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